<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-a-better-nafta-shore-up-mexican-workers-rights/2017/05/01/22e00394-2df9-11e7-a335-fa0ae1940305_story.html?utm_term=.8cccb191e529" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-a-better-nafta-shore-up-mexican-workers-rights/2017/05/01/22e00394-2df9-11e7-a335-fa0ae1940305_story.html?utm_term=.8cccb191e529</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">For a better NAFTA, shore up Mexican workers’ rights<o:p class=""></o:p></h1><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a name="10130ac653d170c0a0842d1af94200641ef45b91" class=""></a><span class="pb-timestamp">May 1 at 6:41 PM</span><o:p class=""></o:p></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Trade debates have been haunted by the ghosts of Smoot-Hawley and 19th-century economic theory for decades, but it is jaw-dropping that the April 29 editorial “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-says-he-wont-shred-nafta-heres-what-he-should-do-instead/2017/04/28/a4be58a8-2b87-11e7-b605-33413c691853_story.html?utm_term=.f7402f63656b" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">From tear-up to tune-up</a>” would fail to mention the issue of labor standards.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">There can be no denying that U.S. jobs have moved to Mexico because of the huge differential in wages. Mexican autoworkers’ compensation is 19 percent that of their unionized U.S. counterparts, and auto parts workers earn even less — <a href="http://clas.berkeley.edu/research/tpp-nafta-whose-interest-inclusive-trade-vs-corporate-protectionism" title="clas.berkeley.edu" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">$2.40 an hour</a>. This is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. The Mexican labor system is designed to prevent workers from organizing to improve their wages and conditions. There is no link in Mexico between productivity and wages: Productivity increased 80 percent, while real compensation — wages and benefits — slid 20 percent between 1994 and 2011.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The core change that must occur in North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation is that Mexico must change its labor laws and practices to come into compliance with international standards, and these provisions must be fully enforced in the agreement.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><strong class="">Sander M. Levin, Washington</strong><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><i class="">The writer, a Democrat, represents Michigan’s <br class="">9th District in the House and is a member of the Ways and Means Committee.</i><o:p class=""></o:p></p><div class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div></body></html>